A typical wireless communication system comprises a plurality of wireless communications devices exchanging data with each other. In some wireless communication systems, for example, infrastructure networks, the system may further comprise a wireless base station for managing communications between the wireless communications devices. In other words, each intra-system communication would be exchanged via the wireless base station. In other wireless communication systems, for example, mesh networks and ad hoc wireless networks, the wireless base station may be omitted, i.e. the wireless communications devices may communicate directly with each other.
In certain advantageous wireless communication systems, the transmitted data is packetized. More specifically, the data is formatted into groups of packets for transmission. Each group of packets is transmitted via a forward transmission, which comprises of a preamble portion and a body portion associated therewith, i.e. a forward transmission block. The body portion is commonly known as the payload and typically comprises user generated data, i.e. groups of packets. The preamble portion may include control information. The control information may include information the wireless communication system uses to deliver the user data, for example, source and destination addresses, error detection codes such as checksums, sequencing information, and synchronization information.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the preamble portion may include a synchronization sequence for synchronizing the receipt of the forward transmission block. For example, the synchronization information may include a pseudo random number sequence and framing bits. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,448 to Marko et al. discloses a communication system for cordless handsets that uses burst transmission methods. More specifically, the transmitter transmits continuously for five frames, repeating the data four times, while the receiver receives for two frames. Each frame has multiple frame synchronization words for synchronization purposes.
Yet in certain low power applications that use periodic windows for receiving communications, these aforementioned synchronization approaches may not be practical since the window length is limited. Proper synchronization is particularly helpful in communications applications where the transmissions have significant time delay. For example, in the typical satellite relay, the time needed for the transmission to travel the significant distance may introduce time delay, thereby potentially rendering the data received in a periodic window as unintelligible.